The “self-indulgent” King Henry VIII has earned himself the title of the worst monarch in history granted by the Historical Writers Association.
Twenty per cent voted the obsessive tyrant the worst monarch citing his “self-indulgent” and “syphilitic” wife-murdering ways.
The Spider of Sarajevo, by prize-winning author Robert Wilton, described King Henry as a “gross man-child” who “barely made it out of infancy, let alone adolescence, and ruled with little more policy than a petulant self-gratification”.
Following the “man-child” King Henry, was Edward VIII, who came in as the second-worst with 14 percent of the vote. John I and Charles I tied for third, at 8 percent.
King John I has been known as the Bad King after the influence of the textbook 1066 and All That.
Voted as the all-time favourite monarch was the 16th Century leader, Queen Elizabeth I.
Author Elizabeth Buchan wrote, “She held this country together at a time when religious factions could have torn it apart.
“This would have been no mean feat for a king. For a woman at that period it was it was unprecedented.”
While, The Lost Duchess writer, Jenny Barden said she “epitomised the spirit that we today identify as quintessentially English”, the Queen’s Gambit‘s author Elizabeth Fremantle, called Elizabeth I “deeply flawed yet impressively in control and a woman to boot”.
The second favourite with 10 percent of the vote was one of the few non-English/British rulers, Alexander the Great. Rounding off the top three was Henry II with 6 percent.
With the namesake of the favourite monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrates becoming the longest ruling monarch on 9th September, had her supporters.
Author of the novel Plague Land, SD Sykes wrote that “she does the perfect job of being a dutiful but detached and neutral head of state”. She concluded saying “as a hereditary monarch, I’m happy that she keeps her opinions to herself”.
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Completely disagree. There have been absolutely worst British monarchs and Henry VIII was not one of them. He was a tough no none sense king but not the worst.
“King John I …” He’s just King John. As there’s been no other British monarch called John, hence no need for the number.
Hey, what about Bloody Mary…who burned Protestants alive. The best you can say about her is that she gave her name to the popular vodka and tomato juice cocktail.
had they lived at that time, not ONE of the historical writers would have dared to have made such a remark during his reign …